Marco Rubio has opened up an elephant-sized 56 - 33 percent lead over Gov. Charlie Crist in
Florida's U.S. Senate Republican primary, but in a three-way general election with Rubio on the
GOP line, Crist as an independent and Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, Crist has a razor-
thin edge, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Gov. Crist leads Meek 48 - 34 percent in a general election matchup, while Rubio's
margin over the Democrat is just 42 - 38 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack)
University survey finds.

If Crist were to file as an independent for the general election, he would get 32 percent of
the vote, compared to Rubio's 30 percent and Meek's 24 percent.

Rubio, the former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, has virtually reversed
the numbers from last June when he trailed Gov. Crist 54 - 23 percent. He has increased his lead
20 points from a January 26 poll when he edged Crist 47 - 44 percent.

"Anything is possible in politics and we have a long way to go until the August primary,
but Rubio's surge against a sitting governor from his own party is similar to Ned Lamont's
Democratic primary win over Sen. Joseph Lieberman in Connecticut in 2006," said Peter A.
Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "A year ago, many
observers questioned Rubio's sanity for potentially risking his bright future by what most at the
time considered a quixotic quest.

"Gov. Crist appears a great deal more viable in a November three-way than he is against
Rubio in a Republican primary. But having already ruled out an independent candidacy, he
would have to reverse himself by the end of the month due to the filing deadline," said Brown.

"Such a public reversal might be politically harmful to the governor, but perhaps not
compared to his chances against Rubio at this point," Brown added.

In a three-way general election:

Crist would get 30 percent of Republicans, 27 percent of Democrats and 38 percent of
independent voters;

Meek, a congressman from South Florida, would get 55 percent of Democratic votes, 15
percent of independents and no Republicans.

Meek is much less known than either of the Republicans with 73 percent of voters not
knowing enough about him to rate him either favorably or unfavorably. Rubio is rated favorably
by 36 percent; unfavorably by 22 percent and 41 percent don't have an opinion. Crist is viewed
favorably by 48 percent, unfavorably by 35 percent and just 13 percent don't know enough about
him to have an opinion.

The size of Rubio's lead over Gov. Crist in a GOP primary is buttressed by a number of
other questions.

By 54 - 30 percent, registered Republicans, who are the only ones allowed to vote in a
GOP primary, say they trust Rubio more than Crist to do in office what he promises in the
campaign. By 56 - 32 percent, they say Rubio more than Crist shares their values and by a
59 - 27 percent margin, they cite Rubio as more consistently conservative than Crist.

"If Crist remains in the GOP primary, and absent the type of game-changing scandal of
which there is no sign, the Governor faces the political equivalent of climbing a 90-degree
mountain," said Brown. "But in a three-way, he has a possible path to the U.S. Senate."

From April 8 - 13, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,250 Florida voters with a margin of
error of +/- 2.8 percentage points. The survey includes 497 Republicans with a margin of error of
+/- 4.4 percentage points.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio and the
nation as a public service and for research.
For more data or RSS feed- http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or
follow us on Twitter.

2. (If registered Republican) If the 2010 Republican primary for United States
Senator were being held today and the candidates were Marco Rubio and Charlie
Crist, for whom would you vote?

TREND: (If registered Republican) If the 2010 Republican primary for United
States Senator were being held today and the candidates were Marco Rubio and
Charlie Crist, for whom would you vote? (na: Not Asked) (Data available upon
request back to Jan 2009)

7. If the 2010 election for United States Senator were being held today and the
candidates were Kendrick Meek the Democrat, Marco Rubio the Republican, and
Charlie Crist running as an independent candidate, for whom would you vote?